The Arab Spring is looking more like Springtime For Hitler all the time. The latest outrage comes from Libya, where 100 Christians from Egypt were arrested, allegedly for proselytizing. Representatives of the local Christian church say the men were working in Libya, but not proselytizing. Be that as it may, telling others about their religion is something they had a right to do. The creepy video below shows the men, or some of them, in captivity. It shows the incriminating materials that were found in their possession–Bibles, pictures of Jesus and the like. Ahram Online reports:
On Thursday, Coptic Bishop Pachomios, archbishop of Beheira, Matrouh and Libya, told the media: “I am following up on the issue with church authorities in Cairo and the Egyptian foreign affairs ministry.”
Speaking from Ethiopia, Pachomios added: “This is a very serious incident, in which Egyptian citizens were arrested on the mere suspicion [of proselytising] and tortured while in detention.”
The bishop confirmed that the Egyptians in question had worked in Libya, adding that “it doesn’t make sense that as many as 100 Egyptian Copts had decided to engage in proselytising activities in another country.”
Here is the video, which was made by members of the Libyan group that arrested the Christians:
Normally, one would expect the Egyptian government to protest and seek redress if its citizens are abused by another country, but it is more or less open season on Christians in Egypt, too, so help from that direction seems unlikely. Perhaps our newly-minted Secretary of State will take an interest.
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